Most event feedback is a single email sent after everyone's gone home — when memories are fuzzy and half the audience never opens it. The best events treat feedback as three separate moments, each answering a different question.
Here's what to ask before, during, and after your event — and how to make responding effortless.
Feedback is three windows, not one email
Each window captures something you can't get later. Skip the "before" and you have no baseline; skip the "during" and you lose the honest, in-the-moment reactions.
Before: set expectations and a baseline
A short survey at registration tells you why people are coming and what they hope to get out of it. Use it to shape the agenda — and as a baseline to compare against afterwards.
Keep it to a couple of questions: what they want most, and their experience level or role.
During: catch reactions in the moment
In-the-moment feedback is the most honest you'll ever get. Ask a single question right after each session — a star or smiley rating takes two seconds and tells you which sessions land and which don't, while you can still adjust.
A QR code on the closing slide or the attendee badge turns any phone into a response — no app to download, no login. That's the difference between a handful of replies and hundreds.
After: judge the whole experience
Once it's over, send a short survey the same day while it's fresh. This is where you measure the overall verdict: satisfaction, likelihood to recommend or return, and one open question for the ideas you'd never think to ask about.
Make it impossible to miss
The best survey gets nothing if no one sees it. Put the QR and link everywhere attendees already look — on screen, on their badge, on the table, and in the follow-up email.
Where to start
Add two quick questions to your registration form.
Create one reusable session-rating survey with a QR.
Build a short post-event survey (satisfaction + NPS + one open question).
Send the after-survey the same day, while it's fresh.
💡 A quick start
Survio generates a QR code for every survey automatically, so the same short form works on slides, badges, and table tents. Reuse one session-rating survey across the whole event.